


Mother's Day

by RowenaZahnrei



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Future, Androids, Children, Distant Galaxy, Family, Future, Gen, Missing Persons, Missing in Action, Mystery, Parents, Starship Enterprise (Star Trek), Starship Hera (Star Trek), mothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 21:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14656212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowenaZahnrei/pseuds/RowenaZahnrei
Summary: Aboard the Enterprise-G, Data and Rayna Kapec have embarked on a collaborative, though highly controversial, experiment: the design and construction of an android child with the ability to grow - not only cognitively, but physically. Meanwhile, a signal from a distant galaxy may provide new clues into a mystery that has haunted Geordi for over fifty years...Story In Progress! Reviews Welcome! :D





	Mother's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek: The Next Generation or any of its characters. But Data's Enterprise-G crew, Natty, Isaac, and Ellie are all my original characters. Please don't sue me or steal my story. Thanks!
> 
> CONTINUITY NOTE: This story takes place in the same alternate future timeline as my previous stories "Fathers and Sons" and "Remembrance and Regrets." The Enterprise-G and its original crew; the 'upgrade' Q granted to Data; and the characters Rayna, Natty and Isaac were all introduced in "Fathers and Sons."

**Mother's Day**

****

****

**By Rowena Zahnrei**

The bridge juddered violently, as though a large fist had suddenly snatched the starship out of the still, silent void and begun to squeeze. Electricity crackled through overloaded computer systems, sending sparks flying over officers scrambling to strengthen the shields, to shore up the ship's hull integrity and inertial dampening fields…

"Captain!" cried the young ensign at navigation. "I - I don't know what happened! The tunnel - it just - it opened with no warning, no—"

"Engineering!" the captain called over the ship's internal comm. "Reverse engines! Get us out, before the shearing forces tear the ship apart!"

"I'm trying…! The pull is too strong, Captain," the chief engineer's voice crackled over the staticky comm. "Our engines aren't powerful enough to resist the draw! Whatever's got us, it's shaking the ship like a can of jumja juice!"

Captain Silva La Forge gripped the vibrating arms of her command chair, using all her muscles to keep her seat, her posture straight and confident…

"Well," she said. "If we can't back out of this, then let's try pushing forward. Ahead, maximum warp! If this thing has an end, let's see if the _Hera_ can get us there while we're still in one piece!"

*******

_Some fifty-three years later..._

"I call it validium," said Dr. Rayna Kapec, leading her husband's best and oldest friend toward the cybernetics lab through the gently curving corridors of the _Enterprise-G_. "Living metal that can actually grow!"

Captain Geordi La Forge quirked a graying eyebrow.

"'Living' metal?"

"The chemical formula is actually adapted from an earlier invention developed by the British professor J.P. Kettlewell, back in the twenty-third century," Rayna told him. "But, the metal he produced had an unstable molecular structure, and its growth could not be controlled. I found a way to refine and stabilize the formula, but my main contribution has been the inclusion of micro-computational technology - a sort of 'genetic coding' system, if you will, that allows the metal's shape, function, and rate of growth to be very precisely programmed and controlled, and to serve diverse and specialized functions."

Geordi frowned and rubbed a hand over his salt-and-pepper mustache.

"OK," he said. "I may be listed as 'retired', but I've been volunteering as an engineering consultant for Utopia Planitia Feet Yards for some fifteen years. How is it I've never heard of this 'validium' stuff until right now?"

Rayna smiled.

"Maybe you would have if you'd read the article I sent you," she said.

Geordi furrowed his brow, then his eyes widened and he winced.

"Oh - that! Oh, Rayna… You know, I meant to!" he said. "I honestly did! But, with work…and now the grandkids…I guess time just…"

"Geordi, it's all right," Rayna teased the old man. "Data told me if I wanted the article to hold your attention, I should have inserted a few warp engine diagrams in with the text."

The engineer snickered despite himself, and followed the slender, blonde android through the sliding doors.

Commodore Data looked up from the lab's central computer console and offered a cheery greeting as Geordi and Rayna walked in, smiling happily when his wife strode up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and resting her chin on his shoulder as she peered down at their busy worktable.

"So," Geordi said, the octogenarian's movements notably slower and stiffer than those of his two android friends. "What's going on in here? You two have been acting so secretive lately, and then I get this sudden invitation to…"

The engineer trailed off as the worktable came into his view. His jaw fell open and he stared in wonder at his friends, his fingers pressed to his mouth…

"Data…" he whispered, shuffling closer to get a better look at what appeared to be a newborn infant, its little limbs gently swaddled in a soft, yellow blanket. As he approached, the child blinked large, blue eyes at him and gurgled a huge, toothless smile.

"Data, oh my god. Is that… Did you…?"

"Validium, Geordi," Data told him. "Validium has made this miracle possible. Rayna and I worked in close collaboration to design and program every cell, every tissue, every organ, and now..."

With great tenderness, Data closed an access panel near the back of the child's skull and lifted the baby into a cradling embrace.

"Here she is, Geordi. Our little daughter."

Geordi circled the table and held out his arms.

"May I?" he asked, looking questioningly at the glowing parents.

Data gently handed his child over, and Geordi beamed, tickling the android's little chin until he got a bright, wonderful giggle.

"We're calling her Elanor," Rayna said proudly, she and her husband sharing a warm gaze. "Elanor Kapec-Soong. And she will grow, Geordi. Our other children, Natty and Isaac…they matured so quickly. Not unlike Data and myself. But, our Ellie is something entirely new. She will have a childhood…an adolescence... An opportunity to learn and to develop that the rest of our kind has never had."

Geordi shook his head, his artificial eyes brimming with tears as he watched the infant android yawn and close her eyes, felt her snuggle deeper into his arms...

"She's incredible, you guys," he whispered. "Absolutely incredible…"

To Be Continued...

**Author's Note:**

> References Include: Doctor Who: Robot, and Silver Nemesis (from which I borrowed the concept of 'living metal' and the term 'validium'); TNG: Interface; The Offspring; TOS: Requiem for Methuselah; and The Lord of the Rings. Elanor was the name of a tiny, yellow, star-shaped flower that grew in the forest of Lorien. Sam Gamgee named his oldest daughter after that flower: Elanor Gardner.
> 
> This story isn't exactly 'ripe' yet, but yesterday was Mother's Day and this story features mothers and motherhood, so I decided to write and post the first chapter even though I haven't quite hammered out the full outline and ending yet. I will, though...especially now it's officially posted! :)
> 
> Stay tuned for more, and please let me know what you think! :D


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